The country of Bulgaria, home to over 6.4 million people, is located in Southeastern Europe. It shares a border with five other countries: Romania, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, and North Macedonia.
Bulgaria welcomes tens of thousands of babies every year. Last year, the most popular names among Bulgaria’s babies were Viktoria and Aleksandar.
Here are Bulgaria’s top 3 girl names and top 3 boy names of 2023:
Girl names
- Viktoria, 589 baby girls
- Maria, 537
- Sofia, 480
Boy names
- Aleksandar, 828 baby boys
- Georgi, 822
- Kaloyan, 611
What other names have topped the rankings within the last few years? Below are Bulgaria’s most popular baby names of 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019.
2022
In 2022, a total of 56,917 babies (27,813 girls and 29,104 boys) were born in Bulgaria.
| Girl names, 2022 | Boy names, 2022 |
| 1. Viktoria, 605 baby girls 2. Maria, 554 3. Nikol, 518 4. Sofia, 493 5. Raya, 400 6. Aleksandra, 336 7. Yoana, 332 8. Daria, 326 9. Gabriela, 313 10. Elena, 290 | 1. Aleksandar, 873 baby boys 2. Georgi, 820 3. Martin, 735 4. Kaloyan, 644 5. Boris, 625 6. Nikola, 614 7. Daniel, 588 8. Dimitar, 565 9. Viktor, 557 10. Ivan, 543 |
2021
In 2021, a total of 59,069 babies (28,796 girls and 30,273 boys) were born in Bulgaria.
| Girl names, 2021 | Boy names, 2021 |
| 1. Viktoria, 645 baby girls 2. Maria, 596 3. Nikol, 537 4. Raya, 463 5. Sofia, 458 6. Yoana, 373 7. Daria, 362 8. Gabriela, 353 9. Aleksandra, 343 10. Simona, 285 | 1. Aleksandar, 938 baby boys 2. Georgi, 832 3. Martin, 783 4. Kaloyan, 658 5. Boris, 637 6. Dimitar, 609 7. Teodor, 563 8. Daniel, 550 9. Ivan, 548 [tie] 10. Nikola, 548 [tie] |
2020
In 2020, a total of 59,440 babies (28,896 girls and 30,544 boys) were born in Bulgaria.
| Girl names, 2020 | Boy names, 2020 |
| 1. Viktoria, 722 baby girls 2. Maria, 612 3. Nikol, 564 4. Sofia, 506 5. Raya, 471 6. Daria, 388 7. Aleksandra, 377 8. Gabriela, 371 9. Yoana, 338 10. Elena, 337 | 1. Aleksandar, 1106 baby boys 2. Georgi, 958 3. Martin, 810 4. Dimitar, 668 5. Nikola, 666 6. Boris, 660 7. Kaloyan, 640 8. Daniel, 615 9. Ivan, 596 10. Teodor, 516 |
2019
In 2019, a total of 61,882 babies (30,209 girls and 31,673 boys) were born in Bulgaria.
| Girl names, 2019 | Boy names, 2019 |
| 1. Viktoria, 732 baby girls 2. Maria, 680 3. Nikol, 596 4. Aleksandra, 489 5. Sofia, 475 6. Raya, 458 7. Gabriela, 377 8. Daria, 370 9. Yoana, 351 10. Mihaela, 318 [tie] 11. Simona, 318 [tie] | 1. Aleksandar, 1,036 baby boys 2. Georgi, 969 3. Martin, 811 4. Dimitar, 665 5. Nikola, 662 6. Boris, 636 7. Ivan, 614 8. Viktor, 601 9. Daniel, 597 10. Kaloyan, 581 |
If you’d like to go back even further, here are Bulgaria’s 2018 rankings.
Sources:
- “Victoria, Alexander Among Most Popular Baby Names in Bulgaria in 2023.” Bulgarian News Agency 5 Jan. 2024.
- Names in Bulgaria in 2022 (preliminary data) – NSI (PDF)
- Names in Bulgaria in 2021 (preliminary data) – NSI (PDF)
- Names in Bulgaria in 2020 (preliminary data) – NSI (PDF)
- Names in Bulgaria in 2019 (preliminary data) – NSI (PDF)
- Demographic and social statistics – Infostat (NSI)
- Bulgaria – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of Bulgaria (public domain)
I thought the name Nina would be more popular, (Nina Dobrev from Bulgaria and Canada.)
I think it’s really interesting that Sofia is so popular, as the capital of Bulgaria is also called Sofia!
@CCH – I find that very interesting as well!